20, 23.

23.

Two dozen books, right? I've got two manuscripts written, [laughs] right? So I haven't published any of them.

I keep adding, deleting, you know, my philosophies change, my principle.

You know, it's just like, how am I looking at things, right? And I think this, you know, you call it success secrets or principles, it's, you know, for me it's, it's never been, you know, one decision, one opportunity, or one lucky break, right? I, I think we all know that.

It, it's the result of principles practiced consistently, right? Especially when no one is watching and the results haven't yet appeared.

I think that is the key, the backbone of this industry, right? Going and, and, and that discipline and that practiced consistency, although the results have not appeared, you're not getting the recognitions, no one's watching, and you're doing it all alone sometimes.

Find someone who's done it.

What was it that motivated you to become a PFS volunteer?

For me, I think initially it was just to meet like-minded people that I could bounce ideas from and maybe learn from and just spend time with to get some more experience of my own and especially because when you work for a firm all you know is kind of that way of thinking so it's just nice to get kind of other opinions and other experiences through that and then also as my career has progressed it's really given me a great channel to give back to others so I'm really passionate about mentoring and I'm a mentor on the CII PFS new generation programme.

So just opening those avenues and doors is just something that I find really enjoyable.

And thinking about the challenges of the profession as a whole at this point in time, what do you think the biggest ones are? And are there any things that your, you know, solutions that you think might be out there to address those challenges?

Yeah, I think one of the biggest kind of challenges out there is kind of, you know, getting younger people in.

And I think everyone talks about this quite a lot.

And I think we could all do our own bit to help that by mentoring.

And I'm a really big believer in mentoring.

I mean, is there anything else that you find makes an explanation really resonate with a client? Is it down mainly to language or is it examples you can give that they can relate to or is it a combination or anything else?

It's a bit of both.

I think it goes back to what Mike said a little bit earlier about analytics.

i think i touched on it too about knowing where the client is and matching their kind of technical ability because i've got some clients and a lot of my clients are doctors and dentists so they're really kind of specialized with medicine but they have absolutely kind of a lot less knowledge when it comes to finances a lot of the time and i think they kind of know that sometimes um so i think it's just knowing where they are but then i've also met other doctors that are very into their finances know how to calculate their own annual allowance kind of tax positions and things like that.

So it's just knowing who you're speaking to, what kind of speaks back to them.

And also if they are newer investors as well, I tend to use quite a lot of tools.

So looking at the stock market over the last like 10, 20, 34 years and giving examples of how it's moved in the past because, you know, past performance isn't a prediction of future performance and things like that.

And Jay, have you had experience in the past of clients that are a little bit sceptical about the advice that you can give them or about financial planning as a whole? How do you go about reassuring them or how do you go about convincing them that you can be trusted and that this is a positive thing?

Yeah

... that probably can relate to me or is me or whatever it is.

Um, but I think it is really, really important, and I did a talk last year at a professional power planner event for aspiring advisors.

And I did the talk, and it was all about personal branding, and I'd prepared this presentation, and I thought, "This is gonna be great." But then I got up and spoke in front of the whole room, and it was only about half an hour, 40 minutes, and I thought, "I've just literally spoken about myself for about half an hour, 40 minutes," and I actually hate it.

In, in a full room-

Mm.

"I don't know," 'cause when you're in it, you're just doing it.

You're just working, working, working.

Okay.

Okay? And we can see those networks...

And so what is a neural network? A neural network is a combination of brain waves connecting one region of a brain with another region of a brain, right? So it's, it's a little spark of, of, of brain wave activity, of a wave, but it's never a straight line.

It always spirals, right? So we have to understand that our mind is in a two-dimensional construct, right? So although we see squiggly lines on an EEG, the stuff that's actually happening [laughs] in our mind is never a str- there's no straight lines in neurology.

It's always spiraling.

So anyways, it's one n- region of our mind, one neuron, one Brodmann area talking to another Brodmann area.

It's a little bridge.

Mm.

So how did you discover this?

Well, it's, you know, as you're right, I mean, I was...

I woke up at the age of 38, pretty much what anybody would consider having achieved the American dream.

Been married 30 years now, beautiful kids.

My mom is still alive.

She got diagnosed with MS in 83.

She was supposed to live six years, but she's still alive.

I'm just wondering, like, how did you know what tactile pattern